Falklands lament ICC move to cut tournaments

Falkland Islands captain Ian Betts says is it sad that the International Cricket Council (ICC) recently decided to suspend the playing of Associate-member division three tournaments.

According to Betts, who along with members ended a two-match promotional tour of Jamaica yesterday, the move is somewhat counter-productive to the growth of the game.

"The ICC has decided to put a halt to division three tournaments for four years. This, we believe, is somewhat a sad situation as we were looking to play on a yearly basis to help and develop our cricket," said Betts.

"But I guess it has to do with ICC development money and perhaps they will review the move in time to come."

The Falklands, an overseas British territory located off the coast of Argentina, has been making strides in their cricket development in recent years.

In 2010, after demonstrating their worth, they were allowed to play in ICC division four tournaments. Such was their ability they were then upgraded to compete in division three events in 2011.

limit their funding

The ICC, however, took the decision to limit their funding to Associate member countries that participate in divisions three and division four. ICC division three and four includes countries such as Brazil, Chile, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, Belize and Mexico.

"Given the situation that we have found ourselves in, we can only do what we are capable of doing, and that is doing tours like these, which can provide valuable exposure and experience," said Betts.

"We recently had similar tours to Belize and Barbados and the plan is to do as much as we can by visiting other cricket-playing countries.

"We were also fortunate to have the ICC development officer for the Americas, Wendell Coppin of Barbados, visit our country two years ago, and look forward towards working with people like him once again."

The Falklands, who are slated to leave the country today, saw both of their games end in no-results due to rain.

On Tuesday, in a 30-over affair, they were 49 for one off 14.2 overs in reply to Clarendon Masters' 223 when the rains came.

The second match, scheduled for yesterday, did not get off the ground as a wet outfield forced the organisers to call off the match.